To read the full chronicle of 25 September 1999, download the report—with original archival photographs— HERE
It is 25 September 1999, and in Baucau the crack of gunfire rings out: the guerrilla has once again convulsed the country in a grim struggle for freedom. Mother Erminia Cazzaniga and Sister Celeste, two Canossian sisters, remain in Timor despite warnings and the very real risk of being wounded or, as tragically later transpires, of laying down their lives.
That day, heedless of peril, they set out with a small party to deliver provisions and comforts to a community besieged on the hills. Sister Celeste feels a presentiment and is afraid; Mother Erminia, with calm resolve, steels her. They complete their mission: they share a meal and pray with the people. But on the return, under the cloak of Timor’s pitch-black night, the group walks into an ambush…
Today we remember their martyrdom with gratitude for two lives given in service, with sorrow for a world in which violence will not cease, and with the conviction that their charism is more alive than ever.
